"Progress has been achieved today on supplies of meat and meat products from Belarus to the Russian market," Russian Minister of Agriculture Nikolay Fyodorov said in his turn.

"Mr. Zayats requested resumption of meat supplies before March 20. This is real," the minister added.

The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance earlier limited supplies of meat and meat and dairy products from 26 Belarus companies due to violations of food safety requirements and presence of African swine fever (ASF) genome.

The Russian authority later inspected companies affected by restrictions in cooperation with Belarus counterparts and lifted them one-by-one as violations are closed out.

Restrictions have still been in effect in respect of nine companies as of March 2015.